Cohen, Tiffany
Swimming
b. June 11, 1966, Culver City, CA
Unusually tall and slender for a swimmer at 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds, Cohen emerged as America's best woman distance racer during the early 1980s. She won her first major title in the 1981 national outdoor 400-meter freestyle race.
Cohen won the 500-, 1,000-, and 1,650-yard freestyle indoor titles in 1982. In 1983, she won all three of those championships again, along with the 200-meter race, was the national outdoor champion in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles, and won the 800- and 1,500-meter gold medals at the Pan-American Games.
After winning the indoor 400- and 800-meter events in 1984, Cohen won gold medals in both races at the Olympics. Her time of 4:7.10 in the 400 was the fastest since 1978.
Cohen entered the University of Texas in the fall of 1984. In her freshman season, she won the NCAA and national indoor titles in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles and was also the national indoor 1,000-yard champion.
In the 1986 outdoor championships, Cohen won the 400- and 800-meter freestyles and the 200-meter butterfly. She retired early in 1988 after finishing second to Janet Evans in the 400- and 800-meter races at the 1987 national outdoor meet.